One of America’s hip-hop major players, Missy Elliott first awakened public
curiosity with her debut album Supa Dupa Fly (1997), which featured the
MTV-nominated single “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly).” Since then, she has conquered
the hip-hop industry with such recordings as the platinum-plus Da Real World
(1999, earned Grammy and Soul Train nominations), Miss E...So Addictive (2001),
the double platinum Under Construction (2002), This Is Not A Test (2003) and The
Cookbook (2005, received a Grammy nomination). The artist has taken home
numerous awards for her work, such as an ASCAP Film and Television Music Award
for the remixed version of “Get Ur Freak On” (2001), a Grammy Award and two MTV
Awards for “Work It” (2002), as well as a Lady of Soul Award and two MTV Video
Music Awards for her 2005 hit “Lose Control” (featuring Ciara and Fatman Scoop).
The Best Female Hip Hop Artist of the 2004 BET awards and the 2005 American
Music awards, Elliott also performed the singles “Lady Marmalade” (2001),
“Gossip Folks” (2002) and “1,2 Step” (2004, with Ciara).

As a musical phenomenon, Elliott will have her life made into a biopic. Produced
by Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal, the film is going to be written by Dianne
Houston. It has not been confirmed whether Elliott will take a part in the
currently untitled project.
Off screen, the huge fan of Björk costarred with Madonna for the 2003 The Gap
commercial and appeared on a Sprite commercial. As for her private life, Elliott
faced several rumors of love affairs that emerged following her collaborations
with other artists. She was linked to friend and partner Timbaland and was
rumored to have had lesbian relationships with colleagues Tweet, Ciara, Trina
and America’s Next Top Model winner Eva Pigford. All of the rumors were denied
and some were neatly put into her songs.

Misdemeanor

Childhood and Family:

Missy Elliott was born Melissa Arnette Elliott on July 1, 1971, in Portsmouth,
Virginia. The only child of Patricia Elliott, Missy lived with her mother only
because her father was abusive toward her mother. Missy carried the stage name
Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott, but she dropped the middle part in 2003 and simply
went on as Missy Elliott. She is also credited as M. Elliott in some of her
work.

Missy enjoys her successful career with her electric-blue Lamborghini, a Phantom
and a Ferrari. She also owns a mansion in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and has a
collection of over 2,000 pairs of sneakers.

Work It

Career:

In the late 1980s, Missy Elliott, along with LaShawn Shellman, Chonita Coleman
and Radiah Scott, formed an R&B group called Sista. In the group, Elliot served
as the singer and songwriter. In 1991, Sista’ performance caught the attention
of DeVante Swing, the member/producer of Jodeci. Swing soon signed the group to
his Swing Mob record label, but was unable to release any album for Sista.
Parting from the group, Elliot began focusing on songwriting and production with
longtime friend Timothy ‘Timbaland’ Mosley. She wrote and rapped for a number of
artists, including Gina Thompson (rapped for “The Things You Do”), 702 (co-wrote
“Steelo” with Timbaland) and Aaliyah (co-wrote 9 tracks with Timbaland,
including the double platinum “One in a Million”).

Elliott’s catchy performances and lyrics brought several record offers, but she
chose to sign with Elektra Records and established her own label, Gold Mind
Records. In 1997, she launched her well-received solo album, Supa Dupa Fly,
spawning the MTV-nominated single “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly).” The album also
included the hits “Beep Me 911” (featuring 702, Timbaland, and Magoo), “Sock It
2 Me” and “Hit ‘Em wit da Hee” (featuring Mocha, Lil’ Kim, and Timbaland). The
latter track was then put into the soundtrack of the teen drama movie Can’t
Hardly Wait (1998).

Following her first recording, Elliott rapped in the remix of Lil Kim’s “Not
Tonight” (1997). In 1998, she produced the singles “Trippin’” for Total (also
wrote) and “I Want You Back” for ex-Spice Girl Mel B (also provided background
vocals). In addition, she wrote “Make It Hot” for Nicole Wray and “Get on the
Bus” for Destiny’s Child. Meanwhile, growing fame led her to screen appearances
(as herself) in sitcoms like “The Chris Rock Show” (1997), “Family Matters”
(1997) and “The Wayans Bros.” (1998).

Elliott’s sophomore album, Da Real World, was launched in 1999. Just as
successful as its predecessor, the second recording featured darker themes and
set off the tracks “She’s a Bitch,” “Hot Boyz” and “All N My Grill” (featuring
Nicole Wray and Big Boi). Aside from its commercial accomplishment, the
platinum-plus album was nominated for a Grammy and a Soul Train award. As a
songwriter, Elliott composed “Who You Gonna Call” for Oliver Stone’s sport drama
Any Given Sunday (1999), “Are You Feelin’ Me?” for the Aaliyah-featured Romeo
Must Die (2000) and “Quick Rush” for Bait (2000).

Marching to further success, the hip-hop artist issued Miss E...So Addictive
(2001), a mix of contemporary dance beats, urban ballads and left-field samples.
The recording featured such massive hits as “Get Ur Freak On” and “One Minute
Man” (featuring Ludacris and Trina). The former track was successfully remixed,
combining the voice of Nelly Furtado with Elliott’s original rapping, and was
soon put in the soundtrack of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). Gaining critical
recognition, the remixed “Get Ur Freak On” won Elliott an ASCAP Film and
Television Music award for Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures. Whereas, a
double music video was made from the tracks “4 My People” and “Take Away” from
the same album. Released in the fall of 2001, “Take Away/4 My People” became
Elliott’s tribute to the late Aaliyah and the 9/11 terrorist attack.

The same year, Missy became the producer of the hit “Lady Marmalade,” a song
that she performed with Christina Aguilera, ‘Lil Kim and Pink for the drama
Moulin Rouge (2001). Elliott then plunged deeper into acting by taking a small
role as Diva in the Louis C.K.-directed comedy Pootie Tang (2001).

A year later, Elliot’s fourth album, Under Construction, was released on
November 12, and reached the selling amount of 2.1 million copies in the US.
Establishing herself as a prime musical phenomenon, the artist tossed out the
international single “Work It,” which nabbed a Grammy for Best Female Rap Solo
Performance, as well as two MTVs for Best Hip-hop Video and for Video of the
Year. Additionally, the track spent ten consecutive weeks at number two on the
Hot 100. “Work It” and the second hit “Gossip Folks” (featuring Ludacris) were
one of the most-played music videos on MTV, MTV2, MTV Jams, and BET. The
double-platinum recording also offered the 77th track on the Hot 100 “Pussycat,”
and “Back In The Day” that featured guest vocals from Jay-Z and Tweet. In 2003,
Elliott produced the “American Dream Remix” (featuring Tweet’s additional
vocals) and became a featured rapper on Timbaland & Magoo’s comeback single “Cop
That Disc,” Wyclef Jean’s “Party To Damascus” and Ghostface Killah’s “Tush.”
Also in that year, she appeared as herself and provided songs for the romantic
drama movie Honey (performed “Hurt Sumthin’”) and the sitcom “Eve” (sang the
theme song).

At the end of 2003, Elliott launched This Is Not A Test, which spawned “Pass
That Dutch” and “I’m Really Hot.” Both tracks tore up the urban charts, but
could not surpass the previous successes. The album, which debuted at No.13 on
The Billboard 200 Chart with 144,000 copies in its first week sales, has only
sold 690,000 units to date in the US. Instead of drawing back, Elliott moved on
by collaborating with R&B singer Ciara for her smash hit “1, 2 Step” (2004),
which brought her a Grammy nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. She also
performed “Car Wash” with Christina Aguilera for the animated Shark Tale (2004)
and joined a huge tour at more than 20 arenas with Beyonce Knowles and Alicia
Keys during March-April 2004. Thanks to her continuous accomplishments, she was
awarded the 2004 BET for Best Female Hip Hop Artist.

The rapper hit the highest point of her musical accomplishments with the sixth
solo album, The Cookbook, which became a Grammy nominee for Best Rap Album.
Released in July 2005, the album debuted at number two on the US charts and sold
176,000 copies in the first week of release. Its first single, “Lose Control”
(featuring Ciara and Fatman Scoop), became a Top 10 hit and peaked at number
three on the Billboard Hot 100. The heavy-played track soon won a Lady of Soul
for Best Music Video and two MTV Video Music awards for Best Dance Video and
Best Hip-Hop Video. It earned two Grammys and four MTV Video Music nominations
as well. The 2005 star-studded recording, featuring guest appearances from Mike
Jones, Fantasia, M.I.A, Slick Rick, Mary J. Blige, and Pharrell Williams, also
set off songs like “Teary Eyed” and the much-loved “We Run This,” a soundtrack
of the gymnastics-themed film Stick It (2006).

A highly acclaimed artist, in 2005 Elliott won an American Music for Best Female
Hip Hop Artist and received a Brit and Grammy nomination (the latter nomination
was for writing Fantasia’s “Free Yourself”). Elliott remixed Ashlee Simpson’s “L.O.V.E.”
before going to her own reality show on UPN’s “The Road to Stardom with Missy
Elliott” (2005).

In 2006, Elliott is set to release a Greatest Hits record with 3 new tracks. The
album, “Respect Me Best Of,” will be released on September 9. On June 26, its
single “123” became available.

"Aaliyah: Princess of R&B" has found its Missy Elliott and Timbaland. Two relatively unknown actors Chattrisse Dolabaille and Izaak Smith have been cast as the two hip-hop giants who worked closely wi...

Rapper Missy Elliott has blamed a lack of inspiration for the delay in releasing a follow-up to 2005's The Cookbook, insisting she will only put out a new album once it is perfect.The Work It hitmaker...